Urbanears Plattan Headphones Review

Urbanears headphones have been storming their way through the fashion world; you may have even seen them at Nordstroms, Bloomingdales, Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, or even being worn outside in the wild. We’ve been testing out the UrbanEars Plattans and it turns out they’re not just a trendy-looking pair of cans; there an all-around great pair of on-ear headphones.

The UrbanEars Plattans have a new-age retro look and feel to them. The ear cups are flat and round and they swivel on an adjustable metal slide. The metal slide pivots on the headband and both earphones can fold into the headband for safe and easy storage. The headband is padded and covered with a soft textured fabric. The ear cups have a donut shaped cushion which is “on-ear” as opposed to “over-ear”. As compared to large headphones, the ear cups are small to medium in size. They won’t entirely cover large ears, but this has no impact on audio quality. There’s almost no branding anywhere on the headphones, but they’re pretty easy to spot based solely on their distinct styling and unique colors.

We’re quite fond of the headphone cable as it’s only attached to the left earcup and is wrapped in a thick woven fabric. The cable is strong and does not easily tangle. There is a small in-line controltalk button about six inches from the earcup that allows you to control music, phone calls, and voice commands on your smart phone (features will vary based on device). Under the right earcup is a standard 3.5mm headphone input for a friend to plug their headphones into. It’s a built-in audio splitter that Urban Ears calls a zound plug.

While the Plattans may not be true audiophile headphones, they do sound very good for the price. The bass is great and well balanced with the music; you can feel it and yet it doesn’t overshadow the music. They’re bassy without being too bassy. The mids and highs are also clear and balanced. All music sounds really nice, with the exception of low-bitrate songs which sound just okay. For someone just getting into the On-Ear/Over-Ear Headphone market, the Plattans are sure to impress.

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The Plattans are comfortable, but any longer than an hour or two and they will start to hurt from pushing on your ears. They won’t block out all background noise, which isn’t always a bad thing. The inline ControlTalk button worked perfectly and I was able to control my music, phone calls, and even Siri on my iPhone. My callers sounded good, and they heard me just as well as I heard them.

Conclusion

All-in-all, the Urbanears Plattans are a stylish pair of headphones that sound as good as they look. Pricing out at about $49.95 from Amazon (with free shipping), they’re a good buy. The audio quality is good and the sound is balanced. They’re not gigantic DJ headphones, but that’s part of the appeal. They’re a compact and lightweight pair of attractive on-ear headphones for someone who’s tired of always using earbuds. They’re available in black, black quilted, dark grey, indigo, mocca, mustard, orange, raspberry, teal, tomato, and white. There’s a “plus” model of the Plattans that feature volume controls and they’re available in indigo, cerise, purple, and dark gray. It’s not too difficult to find a pair of Plattans that match your sense of style. Also, they’re totally unisex.